


The Inscription

by MoldyAndSkuller



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s01e10 In Excelsis Deo, F/M, My Dude had a 760 Verbal so he has to recognize extended metaphors, The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing, The Note, What’s in the Book
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28396392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoldyAndSkuller/pseuds/MoldyAndSkuller
Summary: Donnatella, As you may have noticed, this is not a pair of skis.A peak inside front cover of The Art and Artistry of Alpine Skiing.
Relationships: Josh Lyman/Donna Moss
Comments: 7
Kudos: 59





	The Inscription

**Author's Note:**

> Count me among the droves that binged The West Wing for the first time at the beginning of quarantine. I’ve been hooked (and perhaps dangerously dependent) ever since. I’ve had a handful of ideas floating around in my mind for months, one of which - of course - was exploring the note Josh gifts Donna during ‘In Excelsis Deo.’ 
> 
> I’ve always been kind of enamored with the idea that Bradley Whitford improvised the moment where Josh stops and looks at Donna from outside the cubicle. Aaron Sorkin has said that this was the moment he knew that the attraction between the two couldn’t be one-sided. I figure, whatever was written in that book had to be important, and it was a turning point. Being that it’s Chrtistmas(time), I decided to write myself a gift. Hope you enjoy it too!

_Christmas 1999_

_Donnatella,_

_As you may have noticed, this is not a pair of skis. Nor is it gear with which you can go skiing. It is, however, ski gear... in its way. Contrary to what my history of measured cavalierness may have led you to believe, let me assure you that this comes without any malice or facetiousness, nor does it come from a lack of attention... and care._

_Believe it or not, I stumbled upon this book while Christmas shopping with The President. I read a couple of chapters and I thought of you. And I was... well, I was inspired._

_Within these pages, Beckengruber details — not only the form behind the sport of skiing — but its grace, its beauty, the careful intricacies that have made generations of people want to strap on their skis, lace up their boots, and fly down a mountainside at full speed with carefree abandon._

_There is method in it. There’s tact... and practice and precision and purpose. That which lives in the pages of this book is what populates the slopes, what formulates the sport, what makes skiers tick._

_And that, Donna, is what you are to me - to this office - to this White House. You are the precision and the practice and the method. You are the form and the organization and the intricacy. You are the glue that holds this slope of a West Wing together. You are the value. You are the magic. You are the art and the artistry. With you, I — this administration — can feel free to fly carefree down the steepest of mountainsides._

_I couldn’t do any of this without you, Donna. I wouldn’t want to. You have made yourself beyond valuable - beyond dependable... you are vital. My gratitude to and appreciation of you knows no bounds._

_This book, on the outside polished and lovely and something to behold... filled to the brim with seemingly endless information and aptitude and magnanimous prose — let it guide you. You live within these pages. If you want to learn to ski, this is all you need._

_We’ll study the technique together. And at the end of four years, or eight... when we’re finished conquering mountains... I’ll take you to the slopes._

_Merry Christmas._

_Yours,  
_ _Josh_


End file.
